Ciampate del Diavolo

The Ciampate del Diavolo (Neapolitan: "Devil's Footprints" or "Devil's Trails") is a locality near the extinct Roccamonfina volcano in northern Campania, Italy. It is named after a set of fossilised human footprints preserved in pyroclastic flow deposits that have been dated to around 350,000 years ago. They have been attributed to bipedal hominids, possibly Homo heidelbergensis, which is known to have inhabited the region at the time.

The footprints comprise three sets of tracks in a sequence indicating that a relatively short hominid was making its way down a steep slope on the flank of the volcano, away from the crater. They were preserved under a layer of volcanic ash and were revealed by erosion, probably in the late 18th to early 19th century. Local people attributed the prints to the Devil as they regarded him as the only being capable of walking on lava without harm. They were identified as human footprints after archaeologists examined them in 2002 and are the second oldest set of human footprints known outside Africa, after the Happisburgh footprints.

The area in which the tracks appear is an eroded layer of rock covering about 2,000 m², tilted at an angle of about 45°, in a forest on the side of the volcano. The footprints consist of three sets of tracks which descend a steep slope created by a pyroclastic flow. The first, identified as Trackway A, measures 13.4 metres (44 ft) and consists of 27 prints from left and right feet descending 4.26 metres (14.0 ft) vertically along a Z-shaped course. It testifies to a careful descent down a steep and probably unstable slope. Trackway B is 8.6 metres (28 ft) long and descends 2.91 metres (9.5 ft) vertically along a single curved route. Less care was taken with this part of the descent, as slips and irregularities indicating stumbles are visible. Finally, the less well-preserved Trackway C measures 9.98 metres (32.7 ft) along a single straight line which descends 2.56 metres (8.4 ft) vertically. Occasional handprints are visible where the track-maker sought support on the steep slope, and a couple of animal pawmarks made by a big dog or wolf are also visible.

Until the discovery of the Happisburgh footprints in England in 2013, they were the oldest known hominid footprints outside Africa. The tracks were originally dated to between 385,000 and 325,000 years ago, but subsequent studies using argon-argon dating placed the date more precisely as around 349–350,000 years ago. The pyroclastic deposits in which the footprints were imprinted were laid down around 349,000 years ago (±3,000 years), while the layer of volcanic ash which subsequently covered and preserved them was deposited around 350,000 years ago (±3,000 years). The footprints are thought to have been exposed by erosion caused by heavy precipitation and landslides in the early 19th century, when the name Ciampate del Diavolo was first recorded.

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